Simone Braunstein: Making Soft Robotics More Accessible

From LEGO League champ to robotics company CEO, this Harvard freshman is making an early mark in the field of minimally invasive robotics surgery.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair — the world’s largest such competition for pre-college students — generates entries from 1,000 budding scientists and engineers hailing from 75 countries. In the 2016 competition, New York City’s Simone Braunstein stole the show and took the top prize in the Robotics and Intelligent Machines category. Her entry: a high-tech glove that provides surgeons a sense of touch when using robotics.

Since then, Braunstein, now a freshman at Harvard University, founded a company called Paradox Robotics that assembles soft robotics control boards — the same type she used to innovate that glove. In the past, users had to acquire parts such as pumps and pneumatic cables themselves — a process that often took months. Paradox Robotics takes on that sourcing. It then assembles the boards and ships them via FedEx for arrival in a fraction of the time.

Access recently connected with Braunstein to learn more about what inspired her innovations and what she has in mind next.

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